Aniki Swap 2: Swap Harder
by ne1410jouin
Summary: Sequel to our previous fic, Aniki Swap. Judai and Manjoume are adults in a strained, long-distance relationship, when Saiou decides to meddle in their business once more... now Manjoume's trapped in Judai's body and vice verse, but this time with the added difficulties of ADULT RESPONSIBILITIES and MOODY DRAGON MONSTER SPIRITS... will they undo this curse once again! pls R&R
1. Prologue

**a/n I mentioned this in the description but please read Aniki Swap. This fic will not make sense if u don't. Okay that's all bye please enjoy this hot prologue**

**PROLOGUE: im listening to some death cab for cutie everyone**

Edo was sorting through the papers on Saiou's desk. Saiou, ever since the whole ordeal with him trying to blow up Judai and himself inside a building to get his sister back, had gotten a little disorganized, and Edo found it somewhere in the empty pit of his chest that he called a heart to help the cat man out. It was mostly Edo's curiosity of what kind of papers the psychic would have in the first place, but hey, let's call it charitable.

Saiou was tucked away in the corner of the office, drinking ice cold Lemonade from a cup and staring out of the window. He seemed deep in thought, and since Edo wasn't a mind reader like Saiou was, had to ask what was up, "What's up, Saiou?"

"Thinking about stuff," Saiou said mysteriously.

Edo hated mysteriousness. He scowled. "Just tell me. Don't be like that."

"Judai and Manjoume," was all Saiou said. Edo rolled his eyes. Ever since Saiou had swapped their bodies all those years ago, he had been invested in making sure their relationship had FLOURISHED. It had, of course, but that didn't stop Saiou from fretting over it.

"Who cares about those chumps? I'm sure they're doing fine. Help me organize your things."

Saiou shook his head. "Manjoume's been sending me letters, Edo. I don't think they're happy anymore." He gestured towards the pile of envelopes Edo was holding. "I feel responsible."

"If you feel so responsible, maybe you should swap them again." Edo was joking, of course. He had been barraged with frantic texts from Manjoume when the two had been swapped and he did NOT want to get a redo of that. But Saiou obviously did not think of it as a joke, and was already looking more clear-minded than he had in months. Edo watched as Saiou stood, rubbing his hands together ruefully.

"Maybe you're onto something, Edo, my dear boy…" he said ominously. "Maybe another body swap would help solve all their problems!"

Edo was about to talk Saiou down from this stupid plan, but thought better of it. Hey, maybe this time would be just as hilarious as last time. "do it lol."

"It shall be done!" Saiou yelled dramatically, spreading his arms outwards. "Prepare to swap yet again, my friends!"

Somewhere in Japan, Manjoume slinked around an apartment, turning off lights as he walked towards the kitchen. He was tired after a long day of slaving over his office job, being an underling to his ruthless other brothers. The three Ojamas were already tucked into bed for the night, so he had the silence of the apartment to himself to unwind.

It had been years since the body swap incident. They had graduated from Duel Academia, and were now full functioning adults, living together in the big city. Well, kinda functional. Manjoume still left cuts on his chin while shaving and Judai still had the curiosity of a child and both had their duel spirits still around, but they were old enough to drink, at least. Manjoume poured some wine into a mug just to prove this point, and chugged it down in one gulp.

Judai wasn't around much. Manjoume had gotten used to being alone in the mornings before work and the evenings after. Not that he was awake during that time - he was so worn out by the time he got home he'd sleep till the alarm, then rush out to beat the morning traffic. Some days he rarely ate breakfast.

It was dreary. Manjoume knew that. That's why he was so bitter that Judai was never around.

He understood _why _his partner was never around - Judai had a wanderlust that could not be quenched by timeshare vacations given to Manjoume by his job. Judai had a lot of soul searching ahead of him, and it wasn't Manjoume's place to stop him. Plus, Judai sent postcards from wherever he was, and Manjoume kept them all in the top drawer of his desk in his office.

This was the longest Judai had been away. Six months with no contact other than biweekly postcards to keep Manjoume going. Manjoume, in his boredom, had begun to reply to Saiou's letters to Judai, just to keep up correspondence with _someone_. He complained about Judai's absence in them, and if Judai ever heard from Saiou or - god forbid - Edo that he had been, Judai would probably stop journeying completely. And Manjoume didn't want that, so he finished every letter with a defining "**DO NOT TELL JUDAI**" in all caps and even underlined for emphasis. Manjoume trusted the cat man not to spill their convos any time soon, and it felt good to vent. He didn't have many friends at work, so Saiou and - good heavens - Edo were his closest when Judai wasn't around.

Manjoume finally settled down on the foot of their bed, sighing. It was barely eight'o'clock and he was already POOPED. He felt a little pathetic for going to bed so early, but its not like this is the earliest he'd ever ptfo (passed the fuck out). He snuggled up under the covers, and wished Judai, wherever he was, a good night.


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1: THE BIG YUBEL APPEARANCE**

**alternate title: where in the world is manjoume san diego?**

A drop of water on his forehead woke him up. Manjoume blinked his bleary eyes open, rubbing at his damp forehead. Why was there water dripping from the ceiling? Did the people on the floor above them leave a bath running or something? Either way, he was pissed, and the landlord was going to get a stern call after work that day.

That was, until Manjoume noticed the bright yellow plastic above his head. Like, directly above him. Like, he was in a small, yellow, plastic container. He lay for a second, wondering if he was dreaming, but then he got a water drop splashing onto his face again, and he knew he wasn't.

He scrambled upwards, legs tangled in a ratty, thin sheet of fabric that he had apparently been using as a blanket. There was a zipper closing the yellow container - a tent, now that Manjoume understood his surroundings more accurately - that sealed him inside. He cautiously leaned over and unzipped the tents' flaps, bracing himself for what could possibly be on the other side.

What he got was a smoldering fire pit, a sleeping fat cat, and a monster person kneeling beside the tent, it's large wings flickering every so often as the light rain dripped down onto them.

Manjoume recognized that monster. With a growing feeling of dread, Manjoume scrambled out of the tent towards a puddle that had pooled by the firepit and gazed into his reflection in the muddy water. Instead of his face looking back at him, he was met by the scruffy, bearded face of his boyfriend.

"Judai!" the monster, Yubel, said, their voice loud in the morning quiet. "You're awake."

"I'm not Judai," Manjoume said, panic bubbling in his voice. "God dammit! What the fuck is going on!"

Yubel looked shocked. The fat cat, Pharaoh, yawned and rolled around in the mud, getting absolutely filthy. What a goddamn animal.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Where the hell am I?!" Manjoume shrieked, running his hands over his head. God, this was bad.

Yubel stood up from where they were kneeling, expression quizzical. "A forest in China." Manjoume looked over at them, eyes narrowed. He couldn't tell if they were purposely pretending he was Judai or if they genuinely did not know. Last time this happened, the Ojamas and Winged Kuriboh knew immediately that they had switched. Maybe this was all a horrible nightmare.

"I need to get back to Japan," Manjoume snapped, feeling more and more frenzied as the seconds ticked on. "God, I need to get back to Japan like, IMMEDIATELY. This is soooo bad. Judai doesn't even know which cubicle is mine!"

He bent down to pick up a bag from the ground, but Yubel caught his shoulder roughly and nearly picked him up off the ground to scrutinize his face. Manjoume had heard Judai's descriptions of Yubel before, shown him the card KaibaCorp made for him, and even drawn portraits that they posed for, but they were much different than Manjoume anticipated. Very muscular, very pretty face. And very intimidating. Manjoume visibly pulled away from them as their face crept closer, eyes wide and lips pursed.

"You're not Judai," Yubel finally decreed, all but dropping Manjoume to the ground. "Where is he?"

"Probably back in Japan where _I _am supposed to be!" Manjoume spat. He had no idea what was going on, but he suspected Saiou was to blame. The cat man was a romantic at heart, and Manjoume was sure he'd taken it upon himself to fix his and Judai's problems (not that they had any, because it wasn't like Manjoume CARED that Judai was never around). Manjoume's first thought was to call Saiou and give him a piece of his mind, and his hand instinctively moved to the raggedy cloth pants he wore… but Judai's pants didn't have pockets, let alone a cell phone in them like Manjoume was accustomed to.

"Does Judai have a phone?" He asked, more to himself than the duel monster, but Yubel answered anyway with a derisive snort.

"Sure. Of course he does," they said, their voice deadpan. "It gets great reception out here, in _the middle of a forest._"

Manjoume made a silent vow to not talk out loud again for as long as possible. He slid down to sit on the damp leaves of the forest floor and turned to his own thoughts for company.

It made sense that Judai didn't have a cell phone. Manjoume wasn't exactly sure what the hell he did when he was travelling, but he was without electricity and away from civilization for weeks at a time. The last time he'd heard Judai's voice, it had been months ago, and he'd called from a payphone at the side of a road where he'd been drowned out by passing cars and passersby talking in a language Manjoume didn't know. Manjoume had mumbled "I miss you" just as someone - presumably someone waiting in line for the payphone - had yelled at Judai, and Judai had said a quick goodbye and hung up.

In a way, Manjoume had been kind of glad. It was way too embarrassing to think that Judai had heard him say something like that.

His moping was interruped when something wet and furry rubbed against his cheek, and he almost had a heart attack before he realized it was Pharaoh. The cat was old now but just as fat as it had been when it lived at Duel Academia. Manjoume let out a sigh before pushing himself off of the ground to go rake through Judai's backpack.

Judai, it turned out, didn't have many belongings on him. He had a blank postcard (presumably to be posted to him), a pencil that had been sharpened to only a few inches long, a hunting knife and some water bottles. Manjoume considered shaving with the knife, because Judai's beard was not only itchy but UNSIGHTLY, but decided potentially chopping his nose off accidentally with the seven inch long blade was not worth it. After inspecting it, he slid it back into the backpack and took a swig of water.

It was still morning, from the looks of it. The sun hadn't risen high in the sky yet, but it was already uncomfortably warm, and the sweat stuck to Manjoume's skin, plastered his hair to his head. He needed to get moving before it became too hot to walk… especially because the terrain would make it more of a hike.

"I need to move," Manjoume said, turning to Yubel. "Where's the closest town?"

"Have you ever heard of a map?" Yubel drawled.

Manjoume wanted to scream. There was a map in Judai's tent, but it wasn't like Manjoume knew how to use it, and he didn't even have a compass, either. He turned to hunch over it anyway, muttering curse words under his breath, and then nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a new voice speak.

"Judai? Is something wrong?"

The voice was familiar, but Manjoume didn't place it right away, because he hadn't heard it in years and also because HE HAD BEEN DEAD FOR YEARS. Manjoume turned, slowly, to see Daitokuji, their old teacher and also mythical alchemist, standing before him. He wasn't entirely opaque; Manjoume could see the trees behind him through his semi-transparent body.

"Oh," Manjoume said, "What the fuck."

Swapping with Judai had been bad enough when he'd been in school, but all he'd had to worry about then was going to classes and pining after Asuka. Now, he had to deal with being stranded in China with only a duel monster that clearly hated him, the ghost of an ex-teacher and a cat who really should have died years ago. Seriously, how old was that thing?

"Judai?" Daitokuji said again.

"Shut up," Manjoume said, suddenly sounding very tired, and turned his attention back to the map, trying to make out what Judai's scribblings on it meant.

"That's not Judai," Yubel said, "It's his little boyfriend."

"Oh!" Daitokuji sounded almost pleased. "Manjoume! How are you? What a pleasant surprise!"

In the same way he had done when they'd first swapped, Manjoume hoped that this was a nightmare, but he knew it wasn't. Giving up on the map, he turned to Daitokuji.

"Do you know where I can find a town, or a city, or- _something._ Anything."

Daitokuji smiled, adjusting his glasses. That pissed Manjoume off even more. Why did a ghost even NEED glasses.

"Of course!" He said. "We spent the night in a very nice little village just a few days ago. If we get moving, we could be there by nightfall."

Manjoume felt a little happy for the first time since he'd woken up.

"Oh, thank god," he said. He kicked one of the tent pegs out of the ground and the whole thing collapsed. Yubel stared at him disapprovingly, but Manjoume was too relieved to care as he gathered up the obnoxiously yellow material and the rods that supported it, pulling the rest of the pegs out of the ground.

"Just a days walk? Really?"

Daitokuji nodded. Usually, Manjoume would be horrified at the idea of walking ALL DAY - he took the train to work, and spent ten hours sitting at a desk, and then he usually just went home and sat at his own desk - but Judai's body was used to this kind of thing. He stuffed the tent in the backpack (it is a very big backpack) and shouldered the whole thing, looking to Daitokuji. "Alright! Let's go!"

Manjoume glanced up at the sky.

The heat of afternoon was beginning to fade, and the sky was transitioning from the blue it had been through the afternoon to a dusky purple, stars becoming visible. There was still no sign of civilization or even human life - in fact, Daitokuji seemed to have just led them DEEPER into the forest. The trees grew so tightly together here that Manjoume had more than a few scrapes on his arms and legs from where branches and thorns had caught at him, leaving red, stinging scratches.

Breaking the silence for the first time in over an hour, Manjoume said, "How far is the village?"

Daitokuji didn't answer. He didn't even turn to face him from where he was, a few feet in front of Manjoume.

"Did you hear me?" Manjoume's voice was more noticably impatient now.

"Well, about that…" Daitokuji began, sounding sheepish. "The thing is… I mean, I spend a lot of time when we're travelling sleeping in Judai's bag, so…"

"You DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING!" Manjoume screamed. That was a lot of caps and exclamation points, but lemme tell ya, if you were in this situation, you'd be using a lot of caps and exclamation points too. Daitokuji smiled and shrugged in a what're ya gonna do kinda way, like this wasn't ENTIRELY HIS FAULT. Manjoume punched a tree, so angry he was going to take it out on nature.

"YOU… STUPID… SLIFER… IDIOT!" Manjoume grit out between deep breaths, trying to keep calm and failing… epically… "For all YOU know, we could have just wandered deeper into the jungle! We could be lost for real! We could DIE in here, and I still wouldn't escape, because ghosts exist now APPARENTLY."

"Shut up," Yubel said. Manjoume turned to face them.

"Don't tell me to shut up," Manjoume shouted, "This is all your fault, you no attack points no defense points dragon-shaped waste of-"

"Shut _up," _Yubel hissed, a little more urgently, and their tone actually stopped Manjoume's ranting. "Someone is coming."

Yubel looked serious (well, more serious than usual), and Manjoume tried to listen. The forest was loud with the sounds of, well, forest, and he couldn't hear anything above it.

"There's nothing there," he snapped, exactly as another voice called, "Is anyone there?"

Manjoume jumped, but the voice had spoken in Japanese, which eased the shock a little. Not that Manjoume had anything against Chinese people, but it would have been a lot trickier if they didn't even speak the same language!

"Uh, hi," Manjoume called back, awkwardly. A beam of light cut through the dim forest and swung to illuminate the grove Manjoume stood in, and he raised a hand to shield his eyes from the bright light of the flashlight.

Another figure stepped into the clearing, male and very short. And with big eyes. Do you know who it is yet? Cuz Manjoume didn't know, until the dude pulled off his helmet to reveal his BIG SPIKY HAIR. Manjoume's eyes widened - it was Yugi freakin' Mutou!

"Yugi?" He said, warily using Yugi's first name. He would have called him Mr Mutou, but please, Mister Mutou was his grandfather.

Yugi squinted, trying to make out Manjoume's- well, Judai's- features through the dense beard that covered his face, before he seemed to recognise him and smiled.

"Judai!" He said. "It's so good to see you! You mentioned you'd be in China, but I never thought we'd get a chance to meet up."

"Well," Manjoume said, "I mean- it's kind of an accident."

"A happy accident," Yugi said. "Are you- I mean… I heard you talking. Are you alone?"

Great, now Yugi was going to think he was a freak. Even if Yugi had had a weird ghost buddy at one point, Manjoume didn't know that, and even if he had, having an undead egyptian pharaoh as a spirit guide was a little more socially acceptable than having a dragon duel monster card and one of your teachers. Manjoume would rather try and explain to Yugi that he was really himself trapped in Judai's body before he tried to tell him about Yubel, so he just smiled weakly and said, "Sorry, just talking to myself. Gets lonely out here, you know."

"Believe me, I know," Yugi said. "I don't know how you do it. If I didn't have the rest of my team, I'd go insane."

That was right. Yugi had followed in his grandfather's footsteps to become an archeologist. Last time Manjoume had heard, he'd been on an expedition in Egypt, but Manjoume guessed there was cool old shit in China too.

"Look," Yugi said, looking at Manjoume with a clearly concerned look. He had just wandered in on Manjoume screaming at imaginary friends, after all. "Why don't you come back to our camp? You can have a shower, phone Manjoume…"

"You have a _shower?_"

Manjoume felt like he'd died and gone to heaven. Yugi felt a little awkward at the look of rapture on his face.


	3. Chapter 2

**chapter 2 ryden is real**

The shower at Yugi's camp was a little pop up tent that pumped lukewarm water through a hose with a shower head attached. The water pressure sucked and it turned cold halfway through but it was the best g*d d*mn shower Manjoume had ever had. He felt like he was washing away weeks worth of dirt and grime, even though Daitokuji had said they'd stayed in a village just a few days ago.

He turned the water off and turned to look in the dirty mirror that stood in the corner of the tent. He wiped away some of the grime that covered it, wondering if none of the guys here _cared _about how they looked, and then realizing they probably didn't. There weren't many people you needed to impress at an archeological dig site - not when all archeologists were such NERDS. Except Yugi. He was cool.

Anyway, speaking of impressed, Manjoume was impressed. At what he saw in the mirror, I mean. Judai looked _good. _Months of adventuring without a break did good things for your body, apparently, and Manjoume swallowed thickly.

He missed Judai, even if he didn't admit it. And now he was able to look at his body, touch it, and all he could think was that he just wanted to _talk _to him-

"What are you doing?"

Manjoume yelped when Yubel's voice interrupted his thoughts and grabbed the towel he'd brought to the shower, wrapping it around him. Yubel raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you staring at Judai?" They asked.

"Why are _you _staring at _me_?" Manjoume snapped back, his cheeks flushed.

"I wanted to know what was taking you so long," Yubel said. They seemed unfazed by Manjoume's accusation, which made him feel even more stupid in being so embarrassed. "And it turns out you were just being a creep. Hurry up and get dressed."

"You know, this is technically my body," Manjoume muttered. He was trying to keep his voice down, not wanting to attract any attention, even if the area for bathing was a short walk away from the main camp.

"I will not allow you to defile Judai's body with your eyes."

Manjoume rolled his eyes.

"You know Judai is my boyfriend, right?" He said, a little childishly. It had been a long day, he was in a bad mood despite the considerably favourable change in his circumstances, and he was feeling a little vindictive. "I'm more familiar with his body than you can even _imagine_."

Yubel didn't reply, just glared back, and then floated backwards out of the tent. Manjoume felt that it was a small victory, but a hollow one, because there wasn't much truth in what he'd said. Judai was his boyfriend, sure, but that other stuff…

"Judai?" Yugi called from outside the tent, and Manjoume jumped. How long had he been there? "Are you about done?"

"Yeah," Manjoume said, clearing his throat. "I'm uh, just coming. Sorry for taking so long."

"It's fine," Yugi said, "Come back to camp. I'm making dinner."

Dinner was stew that came out of a battered tin and was heated over a little gas-powered cooker, but to Manjoume, it tasted amazing. Even someone with such a refined palette as his could appreciate some shitty campfire stew when they were this hungry. He sat next to Yugi in a fresh pair of clothes borrowed from one of the other people on the dig (Yugi had insisted - there was no point showering just to get changed into dirty clothes, he said) and wolfed it down.

As he finished eating, he realised that Yugi was watching him. He wiped away some of the sauce at the corner of his mouth and, feeling a little self-conscious, asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong with me," Yugi said, carefully. "I'm just… worried about you."

Manjoume did his best to smile. Knowing Judai's stupid face, he probably looked ridiculous. "Worried about me? Why?"

Yugi leaned forward to poke at the fire in front of them, frowning slightly. The silence that hung between them was deeply uncomfortable.

"It's just… I know you spend a lot of time alone, Judai. It can't be good for you."

_I wish I was alone_, Manjoume thought, thinking of his three constant companions.

"I mean… I don't spend half as much time away from home as you do, and I get lonely," Yugi said. "I miss my grandpa, and I miss my friends. Don't you find it hard?"

"I like travelling," Manjoume said woodenly.

"Is… I mean, this is none of my business, but… is Manjoume okay with it?"

Yugi sounded overly sympathetic, like he _pitied _him. Poor Manjoume, all alone in Japan while Judai went adventuring! It pissed Manjoume off, and his reply came out a little harsher than he meant it to.

"What does _Manjoume _care what I do," he snapped. And then, remembering Yugi's offer from earlier and trying to soften his tone, he said, "But I'd like to call him. If that's okay."

Yugi nodded and stood up, still not looking convinced at Manjoume was okay, which was understandable because Manjoume was definitely not okay. He came back a few moments later with a large, chunky phone - what was it they called them, satellite phones? Yugi needed to get with the times. They had cell phones now, for goodness sake - and after Yugi had explained how to work it, Manjoume punched in Japan's country code along with his phone number.

The dial tone rung for what felt like forever, though Yugi assured him it was just because the phone took a while to get through to other countries. After what felt like forever, there was a couple of clicks and a voice spoke on the other end.

"Hey!"

It was his own voice, that was for sure, but so cheerful that it just didn't sound like him. He grimaced, turned away from Yugi, and said, "Hey, Manjoume."

There was silence at the end of the line, and then: "Who's this?"

"It's me," Manjoume hissed through gritted teeth. "Judai."

"Oh my god!" Judai shouted, and then he laughed, "Is that really what I sound like?" And then, before Manjoume could snap something back at him, "Where are you calling from? I thought I was in China-"

"I _am _in China," Manjoume said. He glanced over to Yugi, who didn't seem to be paying attention, but Manjoume couldn't be sure he wasn't eavesdropping while he read over the notes he had in his hands. "I met up with Yugi."

"Yugi!" Judai sounded excited. "Yeah, last time I heard from him he said he might be in the region, but… wow, you met him just like that? What a coincidence."

Manjoume bit his tongue, not asking how Yugi got to reply to Judai when he just had to sit at home and wait from postcard to postcard.

"Anyway, how've you been?" Judai said. "I can't believe we swapped again, wow. What are the chances?"

"You say that like it's an accident or something," Manjoume seethed. "Listen, you and I both know there's only one person who could do…" He glanced to Yugi in time to see him looking away, embarrassed of being caught listening in. "_This_." He finished.

"Yeah, I thought it might be Saiou," Judai mused. "But I've not talked to him in so long- I wonder what made him do it?"

Manjoume squirmed a little, suddenly remembering all of the times he'd POURED HIS HEART OUT to Saiou via snail mail. Letters full of _I just wish we could talk about it _and _He doesn't know how this feels for me_… SO embarrassing! Manjoume would die if Judai ever found out he'd written those kind of things.

"Maybe I should call Sai-" Judai began. Manjoume interrupted him.

"No!" Sitting across the fire from him, Yugi jumped when Manjoume yelled, and he mouthed 'sorry' to him before picking up his conversation with Judai, speaking quickly. "Listen Ju- Manjoume. I just need to get home, and then maybe we can work everything out."

"Hm," Judai said, chewing noisily on the other end all of a sudden. What the hell? Manjoume was stuck in the middle of nowhere and he was EATING SOMETHING DELICIOUS, PROBABLY CRACKERS FROM THE SOUND OF IT?

"Okay," Judai said, after a disgusting swallowing sound. "I can get you a plane ticket, you'd just have to pick it up at the airport… I can use your card, right?"

Manjoume sighed. "How else are you going to buy it? With the four yen in _your _bank account?"

"Manjoume! You're a riot!" Judai said, laughing. "I don't _have _a bank account."

"Oh my god," Manjoume ground out, wondering why he was surprised. "Okay, whatever, use my card, just don't go crazy. But how the hell am I supposed to get to the airport?"

Judai was quiet, clearly not wanting to suggest he _just walk_. To Manjoume's surprise, Yugi was the one who broke the silence.

"I'll have one of my team drive you there tomorrow," he said. "We have to go into town to get supplies anyway, and Weifang airport is only an hour away from there."

Manjoume hated asking a favour like that, but he was so relieved Yugi had offered that he just gave a tired, grateful, "Thanks."

"So Yugi's going to get you there? I'll book a ticket- oh, Yubel can help you with the Chinese, if you need to ask for help or anything…"

_Like Yubel would help me with anything, _Manjoume thought, but he didn't say it out loud. Yubel could be close by, and he didn't feel like arguing about it, neither with them or Judai.

There was clicking and the sound of infuriatingly slow typing on the other end.

"Okay, you're booked for a flight tomorrow at six - collect your tickets a few hours before it, okay?" Judai said, and Manjoume bit back _I know how to take a fucking plane, Judai. _"Man, I'm jealous! I haven't flown in years!"

"Given the circumstances, I'm not exactly excited," Manjoume said.

"I guess you wouldn't be," Judai replied. "But Manjoume?"

"_What._"

"I'm excited to see you."

Manjoume didn't answer, and for once, Judai was quiet. For all Judai's faults, for how annoying he was, he at least understood now when Manjoume needed time.

"Yeah," Manjoume said quietly, "I want to see you too."

"Shave my beard so I can kiss you at the airport."

"Get lost, you stupid slacker."

Judai laughed.


	4. Chapter 3

**a/n: hi guys! This is just a quick author's note to say that while I love getting reviews and I really appreciate when people take the time to write them, it's kind of disappointing to read a new review and find out it has absolutely no relevance to the story. **

**There's nothing in the ToS that says we can't upload more than one chapter a day, so don't spam us with reviews saying that we need to change our upload schedule - I'll update whenever I feel I have enough fic written to update with. If you continue to review and tell us not to update, I'll flag your review as spam for not being relevant to the fanfic itself.**

**Whew, I hope I didn't sound too mean there! In lighter news, I hope you enjoy the fic, and please feel free to leave us a review letting us know what you think! As long as, you know, it's actually relevant to the _story. _;-)**

**Have a nice night everyone! **

chapter 3: gabilliam is also real and so is william becketts evil twin

While Manjoume was being driven to the airport in the jeep Yugi's team had supplied, he gazed out the window at the Chinese forest they had been in the dead middle of. It pissed Manjoume off - he should have asked what the hell Judai was doing in these woods, anyway. He'd ask Yubel, but the dragon-monster-person-thing was nowhere to be seen, also he didn't want to talk to them anyway.

His eyes narrowed. He couldn't help but worry for Judai's wellbeing. He hadn't realized that Judai was roughing it this hard. Then again, Judai had never really told him anything about his adventures out here in the wilderness, either. Judai was one vague son of a bitch. It pissed Manjoume off.

He looked over to Yugi, who was looking out the same window as him, expression unreadable. Yugi probably knew why Judai was out here, right? Not that he could ask, because, um, awkward. Yugi caught him staring, and smiled brightly at him. Manjoume jumped at the eye contact.

"What's up? Feeling jittery, being back in a car?"

Manjoume hadn't thought about that. When was the last time Judai had been inside a _car_? It must have been a while. "Um, I guess so. Not many cars out in the middle of the woods."

Yugi laughed good-naturedly. "Yeah, it can be a little off-putting. I know that I've gone on expeditions for weeks at a time and getting into a car again makes me sick like, immediately."

Manjoume hummed in response, and Yugi looked back out of the window of the jeep. They sat in an awkward silence (well, Manjoume felt it was awkward, but that's because he wasn't technically supposed to BE HERE) for the rest of the ride out back to civilization. The only real interaction they had was Yugi laughing at him when he let out a cry upon seeing power lines and real roads again.

Even though he had showered at Yugi and his team's makeshift camp, Manjoume still looked pretty rugged. The stress of being body swapped with your significant other did not help matters, either. Everyone was giving him strange glances, which made him feel embarrassed. Yubel hovered uncomfortably close behind him, their dragon wings flapping every so often, making an annoying _whooshing _noise right by his ear.

The airport was pretty packed, and likely because it was coming up to a popular holiday time aka spring break. Everyone was escapin to spicy tropical locations such as the Bahamas, or perhaps Good ol egypt, best place on earth. JK that aint tropical. Maybe Fuji? Listen, I am not a geography expert. Either way, Manjoume was being hounded by the sounds of an unfamiliar language at all sides and angles, and it was making his head spin.

He begrudgingly looked over to Yubel as he became increasingly more lost in the airport. He half wished he had asked Yugi to come inside with him just to avoid talking to Yubel as much as he could, but the king of games had insisted he had to join his team in buying supplies. Damn you Yugi Mutou.

"Judai said you can understand Chinese," Manjoume mumbled. "Where do I check in?"

Yubel seemed torn between ignoring him entirely and doing what Judai wanted, but it seemed like their loyalty to Judai won out in the end, and they turned away with a huff. Manjoume followed them through the busy airport, digging Judai's passport out of his bag as he walked.

Finally, after what felt like forever, they made it through security. One of the workers had pulled Judai's hunting knife out of his bag and given him a long, suspicious stare, and Yubel had only laughed coldly when Manjoume looked to them for some kind of assistance. The knife was confiscated, and his bottles of water were emptied, which was a bummer because Judai had no money on him and Manjoume was _thirsty_.

Pharaoh had had to be left with Yugi, who'd promised to bring the cat home when he returned to Japan. Manjoume wished he could have Daitokuji with him, because he was getting on his _nerves_. As they waited for their flight to board, the teacher rambled on and on about China's history, and Manjoume was too tired to listen. He closed his eyes, and the next thing he knew he was being woken by Yubel's voice.

He blinked awake, rubbed some sleep from his eyes, and looked to the duel monster spirit, who just said, "Your flight is boarding."

He might have said thanks if anybody else had woken him, but he knew it was more that they wanted to see Judai than anything else.

On board, Manjoume found out that Judai had ordered an inflight meal with him, which was a small gesture that had him feeling touched before he remembered that the food had been bought on his credit card.

The in-flight movie was in Chinese with no subtitles, but Manjoume watched anyway. It helped pass the time - roughly three hours in air - before the plane landed.

At the airport, he found himself more nervous than he thought he'd be.

Before this, he'd had no idea when he'd see Judai again. The last time Judai had mentioned it in his postcards, he'd written "I'll be home in a few months, maybe", and then drawn a picture of a panda he'd seen. But now he was going to see Judai (well, Judai in his body, but Judai nonetheless), and he was lowkey freaking out.

In the bathroom at baggage claim he splashed water on his face and tried to look like he didn't want to die. Not that Judai would care, when he looked at this face every day, but _Manjoume _cared. Some of us take pride in our appearance.

When he got through customs he found Judai waiting to greet him with a grin that looked idiotic on his features, and then all but ran over to greet him in a back-breaking hug. Manjoume felt his face heat up, but by the time he'd dragged himself out of baggage claim and through customs, most people had left, so he let it slide. Resting his head on Judai's shoulder, he almost relaxed - until he caught sight of Yubel, miming puking while out of Judai's sight. How a spirit that was thousands of years old could be so childish was beyond Manjoume, but hey, he was Officially An Adult too and acted just as pettily, making sure they were looking before he pulled Judai closer.

"I love you," he said, in earshot of Yubel, and then, his voice lower, "I'm going to kill you. You have no idea how many fucking bug bites I have."

Judai laughed as he pulled out of the embrace.

"I'll count them later," he said, with a LEWD wink, and Yubel let out a cry of disgust that Judai was oblivious to. Manjoume felt a little smug, even though Judai's attempts at flirting made him cringe, too.

"How did you get here?" He asked, wondering it for the first time. "Bus?"

"You own a _car, _Manjoume."

"Right," Manjoume said, before realization hit him and his face paled. "Judai, you can't drive."

"I know! It's amazing I made it here in one piece!"

Manjoume couldn't understand how Judai had survived sleeping rough in some of the most extreme places on earth. The idiot seemed to have the world's best luck, but even so, Manjoume insisted on driving home. He wasn't willing on putting Judai's freakishly high luck to the test if it meant putting his LIFE ON THE LINE.

Judai didn't really argue. In fact, he seemed happy to just watch Manjoume drive, which was a little weird cuz, like, that's him he's staring at. Even having been in this situation before, it was… weird.

"It's good to see you again," Judai said, the first one to break the silence. "Even if it's, y'know, kinda me I'm seeing again."

Manjoume replied with a mutual grunt.

"But still, I wonder what caused this." Judai's tone sounded contemplative. "I mean, last time it was because we pissed Saiou off, but I haven't even spoken to him lately… did you do something to annoy him?"

"Of course not," Manjoume said, a little stiffly. Judai knew him well enough to know he was hiding something, but he didn't press him on it, thankfully… and a little worryingly. Why wasn't Judai bugging him to know what the dealio was? That wasn't like him.

They were quiet again, and Manjoume wondered if he could have done anything to piss off Saiou. Had his venting via snail mail annoyed the cat man? Well, if it had, screw him - he hadn't had to reply. He could have ignored them. Manjoume was suddenly annoyed because in the span of a few minutes, he'd convinced himself that that was the case, and what was even more annoying was that he couldn't tell Judai because then Judai would know he'd missed him.

They were stopped at a stoplight when Judai reached over to grab Manjoume's hand, squeezing it.

"Hey," he said, "It's fine. We'll figure it all out."

Manjoume shrugged and slipped his hand out of Judai's grasp, releasing the handbreak as the light turned to green.

"Sure," he said, "Whatever."

They were hardly in the door of Manjoume's apartment when Judai grabbed him by the shoulders, twirled him around like a world class ballerina and pressed him against the wall, kissing him on the mouth. Yubel pretended to wretch. It was not the most romantic kiss, and Manjoume pushed him away almost immediately.

Judai looked dejected. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Manjoume repeated, "What's _wrong_? I'm trapped in your stupid body with your stupid beard and we have no idea what caused it, besides maybe that Saiou suddenly acquired some twisted vendetta against us, and I slept on _rocks _last night, Judai, and the first thing you think of when we get home is sticking your tongue down my throat."

"Well," Judai said, "I missed you."

He looked kind of pathetic, leaning against the back of the couch with a sheepish look on his face and the pale skin of his jaw red from where Manjoume's beard had itched it. It only annoyed Manjoume more.

"I'm going to shave," he muttered. And to have a proper, long shower, he thought, locking the door as he stepped into the bathroom. Yubel wouldn't bother him as long as the _real _Judai was around, so he could take his time.

He hacked as much as the beard away as he could with scissors, then lathered up his face and used a razor to remove the rest of the stubble. And then he was just kind of like, "wow". Seeing Judai after graduation had always been kind of a "once every few months" affair, so it was easy to forget just how handsome he was, once he'd grown into his dumbass features. Manjoume frowned, washing off the suds from the shaving soap and running a hand down his cheek, across his jaw.

If he'd reunited with Judai and they'd been in the right bodies, he wouldn't have pushed him away when he'd tried to kiss him. He'd have pulled him closer and opened his mouth and maybe, if they'd been in the mood, things could have gone further.

This wasn't _fair, _to either of them, but neither was the way he'd shouted at Judai. Maybe he'd apologize later- by ordering dinner or something, not by saying the words "I'm sorry", because Manjoume Thunder didn't apologize to anybody, not even the person he cared about most.

Freshly clean shaven, he got into the shower to enjoy a NICE HOT ONE with SOAP THAT WASN'T BOUGHT FROM A DOLLAR STORE! or a 100 yen store, whatever.

He worked shampoo into his hair first, wincing as he worked out the matted tangles some of it had worked into (honestly, had Judai never heard of a COMB? were they too expensive for flighty adventurers?), then soaped up the rest of his body. Suds up, fellas.

Looking down at Judai's chest and abs and other areas not mentionable in this rated T for Teen fic, he felt a stirring in the pit of his stomach, an uncomfortable yearning for something he knew it wasn't right for him to take. Not right now, not without Judai's permission, but it had been _so long _and his hand might have started to wander-

Before Judai banged on the door, and Manjoume started, suddenly filled with shame.

"I need to pee," Judai shouted through the door, as though he hadn't ruined what little mood Manjoume had been in already, "Come on, I drank so much coffee while I was waiting for you."

Manjoume shut the shower off and made his way out, keeping his head bowed as he passed Judai. Judai caught his wrist as he passed, and Manjoume stopped but didn't look at him.

"Is something bothering you?" He asked. "Besides, y'know, this whole thing."

"No," Manjoume said, pulling his wrist away sharply. "Everything is fine."


	5. Chapter 4

**chapter 4 i just got outta the shower and i am sparkling clean**

**alternate title: by the time i finish this chapter i will no longer be sparkling clean**

**alternate alternate title: i'm kind of grody actually**

**alternate alternate alternate title: the other author just got showered and is in fact sparkling clean**

Manjoume made dinner and they ate together in silence. Once Judai had DEVOURED most of the food Manjoume had made he looked across the table at him and pointed his chopsticks at him almost threateningly.

"We need to talk to Saiou."

Of course they did, Manjoume thought, but that didn't mean he _wanted _to. And besides his own reluctance to get in touch with the man, there was another problem.

"I don't have Saiou's number," he said. "I don't even know if he _has _a number."

"Edo does," Judai shrugged. "We could call him."

Manjoume paled. He was worried about Saiou spilling the beans, but Edo… Edo was another problem entirely. He knew that Edo probably knew what he'd written to Saiou - the two were like, BFFs, despite being a weird combo of pro duelist and psychic cat man. Manjoume tried to worm his way out of calling, thinking that he could do so later on his own, but Judai kept prodding him until eventually he threw his hands up in the air and gave an exasperated cry of "Fine! We'll do it your way, then!"

Manjoume put his phone on speaker and set it in the middle of the table as it called, the dial tone making Manjoume weirdly nervous. Eventually, though, it went through to voicemail, and he breathed a not so subtle sigh of relief.

"Let's try again!" Judai said, immediately reaching to grab the phone as Edo's prerecorded message about calling his agent if it was a professional enquiry played.

The phone buzzed in Judai's hands and he dropped it in his surprise, and Manjoume took the chance to snatch it up. He swiped over to open the message he'd received.

_can't take calls in hair and make up. what's up._

Manjoume rolled his eyes, typing back: _Hair and make up? Really, Edo?_

_pro duelists gotta look good lol … maybe that's why u didn't last long on the pro circuit?_

Manjoume grit his teeth, practically feeling the enamel wear down. Judai let out a good natured laugh, then prodded Manjoume. "Come on, ask him about Saiou."

Manjoume would much rather have responded to the SICK diss, but instead he just replied, _I need to speak to Saiou._

_why? _Edo shot back, and then, _let me guess, swapped again?_

"That's too good for a guess," Judai said, frowning.

_listen, _Edo went on, not waiting for an answer from Manjoume. Listen, this dude is a busy man. _saiou's impossible to keep track of. he went missing a few days ago and his sis doesn't even know where he is. dude doesn't even have EMAIL._

Manjoume let out a frustrated sigh. _You're saying you have no way of contacting him?! _Judai had to stop him before he added more punctuation to that message. He couldn't help it, he was just PISSED.

_sry, lol, _Edo said, accompanied by an OBNOXIOUS emoji. That's what Edo was. An obnoxious emoji. _he might come to the reunion, though. ur comin to that, right?_

"What reunion?" Judai asked.

Manjoume got up from the table and returned with two envelopes, previously stuffed into the depths of a kitchen drawer. They'd arrived a few weeks ago, one addressed to him and one to Judai (Manjoume had thought that was a little wasteful - why not one envelope for the both of them? Asuka was a mystery). They had the OFFICIAL DUEL ACADEMIA seal on them, and it was made out of wax and everything, because Duel Academia was just that fancy.

Judai ripped his envelope open, breaking into a grin when he saw the letter it contained.

"A school reunion?" He said, eyes scanning the enclosed letter. "That's so cool! I haven't seen anyone from school in _forever_-"

"_I _have," Manjoume interrupted. "Judai, if we go to this, you have to keep this whole thing under wraps. I don't want everyone knowing what happened to us."

"Manjoume," Judai said witheringly, "After all we've been through with our friends, I don't think-"

"No."

"-I mean, we went to an evil alternate dimension with them-"

"No."

"-have you forgotten about Darkness?"

"_Judai_," Manjoume warned. Judai pouted, and Manjoume was annoyed at him for putting such a stupid expression on his face.

"Fine," Judai said, "I'll keep it a secret. I don't see why it's such a big deal, though."

Manjoume didn't really know why it was such a big deal, either, he just knew he didn't want people to find out. Besides, if they found out about _this _time, they'd have to tell them about the last time, too, and Manjoume didn't want to admit that he'd only gotten a bf (boyfriend) because of some supernatural hijinks. That just seemed kinda… pathetic.

"Thanks," Manjoume grumbled. Hopefully, they'd be un-switched before the reunion even arrived, but if not… this was going to be a LONG two weeks.

"You need to know what to do at my job," Manjoume said, practically falling into bed that night. The last time they'd been swapped, he'd gotten sick a lot, and he worried that it was coming on again - he felt tired and gross in the head, but maybe that was just a side effect of being Judai, and Judai was just too stubborn to be brought down by it.

"Oh yeah," Judai answered, sounding distant, more interested in the copy of Duel Monthly he was reading. "I forgot you had one of those."

"Most people do." Manjoume snatched the magazine out of Judai's hands, and the other looked back a little indignantly. "I can't afford to take any sick days. Work's so busy now that they'll just fire me and hire someone else in my place."

"That's so harsh!"

"Capitalism is harsh, Judai," Manjoume said, solemnly. Like it or lump it, that was the way the business world operated. A comparatively low-level office worker like Manjoume wouldn't be missed, not in a huge corporation like Kaiba Corp. That's right, THE Kaiba Corp. Accept no substitutes. "Anyway, it shouldn't be too hard, even for you. Just find my cubicle and look busy."

"What?" Judai frowned, propping himself up on his elbows to look at Manjoume. "Seriously? Nobody will notice if I'm not actually doing work?"

Manjoume shook his head. It wasn't like the numbers he was putting into the system really mattered - most of his workday he spent goofing off and playing with the duelling software that was installed on all the office computers because Kaiba was one weird boss.

"Just _look _busy. Keep your head down and don't talk to people."

"Your job sounds depressing, Manjoume," Judai said. "You should come travel the world with me."

Manjoume tensed, rolling over. He didn't want to have this discussion again - it never ended well.

"Some of us have lives here, Judai," he said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice and failing.

"I guess so." Judai sounded disappointed, but he let it drop. Manjoume was relieved - it wasn't like he _wanted _to argue with Judai - but at the same time, it would have been nice if Judai had fought him a little more on it. It'd have been nice to feel like he was really _wanted._

**a/n thanks so much for the fave, follows and reviews, guys! ^_^ this chapter doesn't have much going on in it, but next chapter we'll get to see judai go to work, and manjoume meet up with an old friend.  
**


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